Be welcome! You are watching my personal pixel update platform for my painted metal meneken. Sounds mental as it is. Semi-Strictly 28mm. History 'light'. No magnifiers were used in this process. What I have, what will be painted, what I like, what rules I favour and more.
Watch this space and be patient!

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

"Colonnel, here is an order from the General!""Ah, thanks, I was waiting for that." (The Officer opens the letter)"Aaand, what are his orders?""Hrm ... ""Come on, speak up, we don‘t have all day!"..."Now Captain, what does the General wants us to do?""I have no clue what so ever. Looks like ant shit to me."

How much bad luck can a General bear? And how many bears want to know?

The Eve of Battle preparation game went very well for me, but the the start of this battle made all unravel. First, my river was going ALL accross my field and then, ALL of the buildings were on the other side. Huzzah!

Paul started the battle and made some progress, while I was desperately trying to get my troops over the water. He had again more guns than me, so I hoped to get somewhere before the rain stops.
AND on the second turn Paul rolled a 1 and the rain stopped.

We got into a little Cavalry fight (as Paul can‘t resist) but which was pretty much undeceive, while his sneaky Natives tried to get into my flank or even further.

AND then I rolled a BLUNDER, yeah, dear reader, a double retreat over the river back AGAIN. While my stubborn Hessians couldn't find a crossing, the got even confused by the sight of a normal bridge.

Sunday, 9 February 2014

As I lost the last battle, Paul had an additional Line infantry unit a +1 to a staff rating of one commander AND a free village on his half of the table (similar to card 14 of Eve of Battle), i.e. 1-2 farmhouses plus 24-48" of fences (Campaign specific rules, I would have -1 Line unit and -1 on the staff rating of one commander).

We had a very interesting (and long) EoB game, where I managed to get rid of most but not all of my penalties ...

We will have 50% wood coverage and heavy rain, i.e. movement is reduced by 3" and shooting is impossible - there is a 1 in 6 chance each turn that the rain stops and shooting will be possible again.

Paul did draw the plague card, i.e. he lost the additional line infantry to small pox.

He will have the rump army of one gun, three American line (one of them untested) and two militia line and skirmishing units of natives and riflemen.

He added one extra gun, one elite dragoons cavalry, two French (untested) and an extra American Line.

He also has the cards Ambush (38) Sentries asleep (29) and of course Plague (24). That means he can delay one unit of mine for one turn and he starts the battle and he looses 10% of his units (11 units total = -1 which is his victory prize from the last battle, Fortuna can be a bitch sometimes).

And of course he will have one commander with a staff rating of 9.

I will field the usual rump army of one gun, one (elite) grenadier unit, 3 British Line (one of them untested) and a Light Infantry unit.

I "bought" additionally a dragoon Cavalry unit, 3 Hessian units (two of them untested) one small Jaeger skirmisher unit and an extra Line (which I lost immediately, due to my last battle defeat - see Fortuna.)

Paul blocked my additional artillery unit I tried to buy. But I also have two infantry elite upgrades!!

As of my event cards are: Small river (10) This time we directly came to the conclusion that it will be crossable an 2in6 (as per EoB) AND it will be ONLY as a 6" obstacle loss of movement. the experience of the last battle in mind.Lost Depeches (37) - I will redeploy after Paul.Scouts ahead (32) - one unit anywhere before 12" of the enemy
and last but not least, Village (14) see above)
and of course one commander with a staff rating of 7 (last battle lost - campaign rules).

Again a very interesting and diversified result: Very iconic, 50% wood coverage one river 2-4 houses with fenced-in areas all drenched in heavy rain at a small river crossed by a road. Name of the settlement as per title for the battle, I‘m open to suggestions.

Interesting that nobody in spite of the many cards we all had set any objective ...

And last but not least, for the buildings, I suggest: they can hold: 1 Line unit and up to 1 add. commander. no add. tiny unit.

And secondly, as I‘m not a fan of indestructable bunker games ...
We should add some (similar to pike and shotte) rules for the destructability of the buildings:
Each hit (of a gun) equals one structure point less, Stone houses (5+ d6) Wood houses (2+ d6) after the building just "crumbles" to a normal "cover" (like a fence or wall).
... to discuss.

Saturday, 1 February 2014

"Hey, Sergeant! We need to retreat, re-form and then attack again!""Yes, Sir!""The enemy artillery is constantly 'amusing' our lines, this place is a mess. Have you seen the General?""The last time, I saw him he was picking flowers and ... errhmm, whistling, Brigade General.""???"In the next moment a cannon ball cut off the head of the sergeant.

What is more defeating than loosing? Giving up!

After a promising start and two lost chances (see below) to blow the rebels back to Philadelphia - I did the unthinkable and gave up.
I lost my Hessians (my best shots) and my only gun. The ratio was still in my favour: I lost 3 units and Paul lost 4 units, a somewhat technical measurement – but the chances that I would blow him off would get slimmer every turn. At the end we would both had a shooting competition, but he would have more commanders (to rally off casualties) and finally two guns!! With this in mind and the horror o loosing more brave innocent painted metal meneken in this useless, immoral and horrid battle... I surrendered.

Chance number one: Right at the start (last week) when my scouts were in front of some flimsy American rebel line.

Chance number two (this week): when my Hessians and the gun were in front of some shaken Militia and some shaken French unit. They did not break. I shot miserably, Paul save supremely, then my general blundered 2(!!!) times and threw my attack into disarray. Also my camera battery was suddenly out of charge ...